RILEY COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a case of alleged fraud in Manhattan.

Just before noon April 24, police filed a report for fraud in the 300 block of Highland Pointe Drive in Manhattan, according to the RCPD activity report.

A 77-year-old woman told police she was&nbsp;contacted by someone twice posing to be from a law firm.&nbsp; The suspect falsely claimed the victim needed to provide money for a family member who was in legal trouble. The victim provided this individual money in both instances.

The estimated total loss associated with this case is approximately $21,000.00. 

Anyone with information can contact RCPD or the Manhattan Riley County Crime Stoppers. Using the Crime Stoppers service can allow you to remain anonymous and could qualify you for a cash reward of up to $1,000.00.

RILEY COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a case of alleged fraud in Manhattan.Just before noon April 24, police filed a report for fraud in the 300 block of Highland Pointe Drive in Manhattan, according to the RCPD activity report.A 77-year-old woman told police she was&nbsp;contacted by someone twice posing to be from a law firm.&nbsp; The suspect falsely claimed the victim needed to provide money for a family member who was in legal trouble. The victim provided this individual money in both instances.The estimated total loss associated with this case is approximately $21,000.00. Anyone with information can contact RCPD or the Manhattan Riley County Crime Stoppers. Using the Crime Stoppers service can allow you to remain anonymous and could qualify you for a cash reward of up to $1,000.00.

Kan. woman lost $21K in alleged legal trouble scam

SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspicious weekend death and have identified the victim as Hester Workman, 46, of Topeka, according to police spokesperson Gretchen Spiker.

Just after&nbsp; 7p.m. Saturday, police responded to a home in the 2800 block of SW James in Topeka after a 911 call requesting medical personnel, according to police Lt. Kelvin Johnson.

At the scene first responders located Workman who was deceased.

Officers and Detectives were working to determine the circumstances surrounding her death.

SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are a suspicious death.

At the scene first responders located a woman who was deceased.

Officers and Detectives were working to determine the circumstances surrounding this incident.&nbsp; Police did not release the victim's name.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/4/1619363984890.png" alt="Police on the scene of the investigation Saturday photo courtesy WIBW TV" />
 <figcaption>Police on the scene of the investigation Saturday photo courtesy WIBW TV</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspicious weekend death and have identified the victim as Hester Workman, 46, of Topeka, according to police spokesperson Gretchen Spiker.Just after&nbsp; 7p.m. Saturday, police responded to a home in the 2800 block of SW James in Topeka after a 911 call requesting medical personnel, according to police Lt. Kelvin Johnson.At the scene first responders located Workman who was deceased.Officers and Detectives were working to determine the circumstances surrounding her death.------------SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are a suspicious death.Just after&nbsp; 7p.m. Saturday, police responded to a home in the 2800 block of SW James in Topeka after a 911 call requesting medical personnel, according to police Lt. Kelvin Johnson.At the scene first responders located a woman who was deceased.Officers and Detectives were working to determine the circumstances surrounding this incident.&nbsp; Police did not release the victim's name.

Police ID Kansas woman found dead in her home

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — More than half of Kansas’ counties have turned down their weekly allotment of coronavirus vaccine doses because demand for the shots has declined.

The state said 62 of Kansas’ 105 counties declined their weekly allocations of vaccines from the state last week.

A spokesperson for Gov. Laura Kelly said it appears that many Kansans are delaying getting the vaccine after there has been a steady drop in the number of new infections, hospitalizations and deaths in the state.

State officials are planning a campaign to encourage people who are indifferent or reluctant to get the vaccine to consider getting the shots. And plans are underway to target vaccine distribution more on younger people who make up a large portion of the new cases in the state.

Barton County in central Kansas is one of the places that declined its shipment of the shots. In that county, about 30% of adults have received at least one dose of a vaccine compared to 36.4% across the state.

Barton County Health Director Karen Winkelman said she plans to move away from mass vaccination clinics to using more private doctors and pharmacies that have closer relationships with their patients. The county is also offering walk-in vaccination without appointments now.

But Winkelman said she won’t twist people’s arms to get them vaccinated.

“I would like to see the number higher,” she said, “but I can also respect people’s decisions.”

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — More than half of Kansas’ counties have turned down their weekly allotment of coronavirus vaccine doses because demand for the shots has declined.The state said 62 of Kansas’ 105 counties declined their weekly allocations of vaccines from the state last week.A spokesperson for Gov. Laura Kelly said it appears that many Kansans are delaying getting the vaccine after there has been a steady drop in the number of new infections, hospitalizations and deaths in the state.State officials are planning a campaign to encourage people who are indifferent or reluctant to get the vaccine to consider getting the shots. And plans are underway to target vaccine distribution more on younger people who make up a large portion of the new cases in the state.Barton County in central Kansas is one of the places that declined its shipment of the shots. In that county, about 30% of adults have received at least one dose of a vaccine compared to 36.4% across the state.Barton County Health Director Karen Winkelman said she plans to move away from mass vaccination clinics to using more private doctors and pharmacies that have closer relationships with their patients. The county is also offering walk-in vaccination without appointments now.But Winkelman said she won’t twist people’s arms to get them vaccinated.“I would like to see the number higher,” she said, “but I can also respect people’s decisions.”

Most Kansas counties turn down latest vaccine doses 

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Sometime after a January 2017 drug bust near Interstate 70′s main exit for President Dwight Eisenhower’s boyhood Kansas home, $72,000 in cash seized by the local sheriff’s department disappeared.

The state has been investigating the Dickinson County Sheriff’s Department for close to four years, with two officials saying in a court filing this year that a “fear of retribution” among department employees had slowed progress. A three-term sheriff lost last year’s Republican primary decisively to a former longtime officer who told voters the department was falling apart.

The mystery has unfolded amid a national debate over whether law enforcement agencies can too easily seize cash and other assets — often without a criminal conviction. Interstate 70 has long been considered a major drug-running corridor.

Meanwhile, there’s no official explanation for what happened to the cash seized in Dickinson County.

“I would like to think that we could get some closure on that,” said Brad Homman, the county administrator.

Abilene, the county seat with 6,400 people, is about 150 miles west of Kansas City. Eisenhower’s presidential library gives the town a hint of prairie rectitude, though it had a pre-Ike past as the end of the Chisholm Trail for 1860s cattle drovers.

No criminal charges have been filed over the missing $72,000. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation closed an inquiry into the former sheriff in October 2019 and the missing funds were “fully investigated,” spokesperson Melissa Underwood said.

Yet, Underwood also wrote in a recent email to The Associated Press, “We have open cases involving Dickinson County Sheriff’s Office personnel.”

Current Sheriff Jerry Davis cited the KBI’s inquiries in declining to answer most questions. The local prosecutor, Andrea Purvis, didn’t respond to interview requests or emailed questions.

Former Sheriff Gareth Hoffman and his undersheriff didn’t respond to social media or email messages. Possible phone numbers for them weren’t answered.

Some details emerged when a lawsuit forced KBI Director Kirk Thompson and General Counsel Laura Graham to answer questions in writing in late February. They were defending the KBI’s refusal to release records five months after the Abilene Reflector-Chronicle’s parent company sued for disclosure.

Thompson and Graham said officers wouldn’t help the KBI if they knew their statements would become public. “One deputy was advised by commanding officers that he would be fired if he spoke about a theft,” the KBI officials said.

Any picture of what happened is clouded by separate allegations in early 2017 that a lieutenant improperly borrowed $25,760 over 4 1/2 years, most of it from a property room in the basement the county attorney’s office building. The officer later pleaded guilty to felony theft in a case that has prompted questions about how Hoffman ran the department.

The KBI said that the sheriff’s office asked it in late May 2017 to investigate the $72,000 missing from its property room. The sheriff has an evidence room in the county courthouse.

Dickinson County Commission Chairman Lynn Peterson believes people were satisfied then with the sheriff’s leadership and notes that it was the sheriff’s office “that uncovered the fact that money was missing and started gathering information.”

But in May 2018, nearly a year after the sheriff’s office sought KBI help, Purvis asked the state agency to investigate “possible evidence destruction and interference with law enforcement” by Hoffman or his employees.

Local officials’ requests for KBI investigations were confirmed in a September 2020 letter to the Reflector-Chronicle’s attorney from Graham, the KBI’s general counsel. The letter, now public because of the open-records lawsuit the newspaper filed days later, wasn’t more specific about what Purvis wanted investigated.

A KBI agent filed an offense report in October 2018 saying $72,020 was missing in a potential “Theft of property or services.” The report’s front page — the only page typically released in Kansas — does not name suspects.

Graham’s letter said the KBI spent about 18 months investigating the missing money and more than a year investigating allegations involving Hoffman and his employees. The state found “insufficient evidence” for charges.

Also involved was Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s office, which notified Purvis in July 2019 that it wouldn’t file criminal misconduct charges in Dickinson County. The letter from Assistant Attorney General Michael Serra suggested that a case could not be proven to a jury, though an investigation remained open. He questioned local officials’ evidence-handling policies.

The sheriff’s office did have 21 pages of policies — which Davis said he’s revising — for items in its courthouse property room, including one that said cash or coins worth more than $100 were to be counted by the deputy who seized the money and a second officer before being sealed in tamper-proof packaging.

As for the missing cash, Homman, the county administrator, said it would be nice to get it back.

“It’s money that shouldn’t have been wherever it went.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/4/1619366778270.png" alt="Former Dickinson Co. Sheriff Gareth Hoffman during a June 2020 interview with Eagle Communications" />
 <figcaption>Former Dickinson Co. Sheriff Gareth Hoffman during a June 2020 interview with Eagle Communications</figcaption>
 </figure>TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Sometime after a January 2017 drug bust near Interstate 70′s main exit for President Dwight Eisenhower’s boyhood Kansas home, $72,000 in cash seized by the local sheriff’s department disappeared.The state has been investigating the Dickinson County Sheriff’s Department for close to four years, with two officials saying in a court filing this year that a “fear of retribution” among department employees had slowed progress. A three-term sheriff lost last year’s Republican primary decisively to a former longtime officer who told voters the department was falling apart.The mystery has unfolded amid a national debate over whether law enforcement agencies can too easily seize cash and other assets — often without a criminal conviction. Interstate 70 has long been considered a major drug-running corridor.Meanwhile, there’s no official explanation for what happened to the cash seized in Dickinson County.“I would like to think that we could get some closure on that,” said Brad Homman, the county administrator.Abilene, the county seat with 6,400 people, is about 150 miles west of Kansas City. Eisenhower’s presidential library gives the town a hint of prairie rectitude, though it had a pre-Ike past as the end of the Chisholm Trail for 1860s cattle drovers.No criminal charges have been filed over the missing $72,000. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation closed an inquiry into the former sheriff in October 2019 and the missing funds were “fully investigated,” spokesperson Melissa Underwood said.Yet, Underwood also wrote in a recent email to The Associated Press, “We have open cases involving Dickinson County Sheriff’s Office personnel.”Current Sheriff Jerry Davis cited the KBI’s inquiries in declining to answer most questions. The local prosecutor, Andrea Purvis, didn’t respond to interview requests or emailed questions.Former Sheriff Gareth Hoffman and his undersheriff didn’t respond to social media or email messages. Possible phone numbers for them weren’t answered.Some details emerged when a lawsuit forced KBI Director Kirk Thompson and General Counsel Laura Graham to answer questions in writing in late February. They were defending the KBI’s refusal to release records five months after the Abilene Reflector-Chronicle’s parent company sued for disclosure.Thompson and Graham said officers wouldn’t help the KBI if they knew their statements would become public. “One deputy was advised by commanding officers that he would be fired if he spoke about a theft,” the KBI officials said.Any picture of what happened is clouded by separate allegations in early 2017 that a lieutenant improperly borrowed $25,760 over 4 1/2 years, most of it from a property room in the basement the county attorney’s office building. The officer later pleaded guilty to felony theft in a case that has prompted questions about how Hoffman ran the department.The KBI said that the sheriff’s office asked it in late May 2017 to investigate the $72,000 missing from its property room. The sheriff has an evidence room in the county courthouse.Dickinson County Commission Chairman Lynn Peterson believes people were satisfied then with the sheriff’s leadership and notes that it was the sheriff’s office “that uncovered the fact that money was missing and started gathering information.”But in May 2018, nearly a year after the sheriff’s office sought KBI help, Purvis asked the state agency to investigate “possible evidence destruction and interference with law enforcement” by Hoffman or his employees.Local officials’ requests for KBI investigations were confirmed in a September 2020 letter to the Reflector-Chronicle’s attorney from Graham, the KBI’s general counsel. The letter, now public because of the open-records lawsuit the newspaper filed days later, wasn’t more specific about what Purvis wanted investigated.A KBI agent filed an offense report in October 2018 saying $72,020 was missing in a potential “Theft of property or services.” The report’s front page — the only page typically released in Kansas — does not name suspects.Graham’s letter said the KBI spent about 18 months investigating the missing money and more than a year investigating allegations involving Hoffman and his employees. The state found “insufficient evidence” for charges.Also involved was Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s office, which notified Purvis in July 2019 that it wouldn’t file criminal misconduct charges in Dickinson County. The letter from Assistant Attorney General Michael Serra suggested that a case could not be proven to a jury, though an investigation remained open. He questioned local officials’ evidence-handling policies.The sheriff’s office did have 21 pages of policies — which Davis said he’s revising — for items in its courthouse property room, including one that said cash or coins worth more than $100 were to be counted by the deputy who seized the money and a second officer before being sealed in tamper-proof packaging.As for the missing cash, Homman, the county administrator, said it would be nice to get it back.“It’s money that shouldn’t have been wherever it went.”

Sheriff department's lost $72K: 4 years of probing, few answers

KANSAS CITY (AP) — Authorities say a man was shot and killed early Sunday in Kansas City.

Officers were called to the area near East 29th Street and Jackson Avenue around 5 a.m. Sunday when gunshots were reported. said Officer Donna Drake, a spokeswoman for the police department in Kansas City, Missouri.

About a block away from where the shooting was reported officers found a man with gunshot wounds inside a vehicle. The man died at the scene.

Police did not immediately release the victim's identity and no arrests were reported Sunday morning.

“Another life taken and another family devastated,” Jackson County Sheriff Darryl Forte posted on Twitter from the crime scene. The shooting death is the 47th homicide reported in Kansas City so far this year.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — Authorities say a man was shot and killed early Sunday in Kansas City.Officers were called to the area near East 29th Street and Jackson Avenue around 5 a.m. Sunday when gunshots were reported. said Officer Donna Drake, a spokeswoman for the police department in Kansas City, Missouri.About a block away from where the shooting was reported officers found a man with gunshot wounds inside a vehicle. The man died at the scene.Police did not immediately release the victim's identity and no arrests were reported Sunday morning.“Another life taken and another family devastated,” Jackson County Sheriff Darryl Forte posted on Twitter from the crime scene. The shooting death is the 47th homicide reported in Kansas City so far this year.

Police report 47th homicide in Kansas City in 2021

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Two Kansas women arrested in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol told the FBI they expected to participate in a peaceful protest supporting former President Donald Trump that day.

Court records show that Jennifer Ruth Parks and Esther Schwemmer were both arrested Friday. An affidavit filed in Parks’ case describes how the two women entered the U.S. Capitol after protesters broke into the building and remained inside for 30 minutes to an hour.

Parks is charged with knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building without lawful authority, but the charges against Schwemmer had not been released as of Sunday.

“Parks believed she was attending a peaceful rally in support of President Donald Trump,” an FBI agent wrote.

The two friends who travelled to Washington together are among at least seven people from Kansas and dozens nationwide who have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol while Congress was meeting to certify Democrat Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential race.

The FBI received a tip on Jan. 11 that Parks had participated in the insurrection. After interviewing the women, investigators used a photo one of the women provided to track down additional images of them inside the Capitol from security footage and police body cameras.

“Schwemmer claimed that she and Parks walked to the front of the Capitol Building, encountered no barricades and no police officer told them to stop,” the FBI wrote. “Schwemmer saw the open doors to the U.S. Capitol Building and entered with Parks.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/4/1619432644832.png" alt="Schwemmer and Parks were arrested Friday. Photo U.S. Dept. of Justice" />
 <figcaption>Schwemmer and Parks were arrested Friday. Photo U.S. Dept. of Justice</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Two Kansas women arrested in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol told the FBI they expected to participate in a peaceful protest supporting former President Donald Trump that day.Court records show that Jennifer Ruth Parks and Esther Schwemmer were both arrested Friday. An affidavit filed in Parks’ case describes how the two women entered the U.S. Capitol after protesters broke into the building and remained inside for 30 minutes to an hour.Parks is charged with knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building without lawful authority, but the charges against Schwemmer had not been released as of Sunday.“Parks believed she was attending a peaceful rally in support of President Donald Trump,” an FBI agent wrote.The two friends who travelled to Washington together are among at least seven people from Kansas and dozens nationwide who have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol while Congress was meeting to certify Democrat Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential race.The FBI received a tip on Jan. 11 that Parks had participated in the insurrection. After interviewing the women, investigators used a photo one of the women provided to track down additional images of them inside the Capitol from security footage and police body cameras.“Schwemmer claimed that she and Parks walked to the front of the Capitol Building, encountered no barricades and no police officer told them to stop,” the FBI wrote. “Schwemmer saw the open doors to the U.S. Capitol Building and entered with Parks.”

Two Kan. women arrested in Jan. 6 Capitol riot

KANSAS CITY (AP) — A young public radio journalist has died after being struck by a stray bullet inside her Kansas City apartment.

Aviva Okeson-Haberman, 24, was struck by a bullet Friday afternoon while she was in her first-floor apartment, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-04-25/kcur-reporter-and-beloved-colleague-aviva-okeson-haberman">KCUR</a>, where she worked.

Okeson-Haberman had been covering Missouri government and politics at the station where she had worked since 2019 after graduating from the University of Missouri. The native of Springfield, Missouri, had recently been planning to move to Lawrence, Kansas, for a new job covering criminal justice issues for the Kansas News Service.

After news of Okeson-Haberman's death broke Sunday, many colleagues and public officials, including Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, offered memories and condolences on Twitter.

“Aviva was a creative, thorough, challenging, and insightful reporter. Always prepared, she told the full and complex story of our city in one of the most challenging years in its history,” Lucas wrote. “Her death lays bare our gravest unsolved epidemic and the preventable tragedies too many families endure.”

“Aviva was brilliant,” KCUR news director Lisa Rodriguez said in the station’s story. “Even as an intern, her approach to storytelling and her ability to hold those in power accountable paralleled many a veteran reporter."

Kansas City police said officers went to an apartment in the city’s Santa Fe neighborhood Friday and found an individual with a gunshot wound. At that time, police said the victim was taken to a hospital with serious, life-threatening injuries.

A police spokesman said Sunday that authorities could not confirm the name of that victim because they were still on life support.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/4/1619433188666.png" alt="Aviva Okeson-Haberman" />
 <figcaption>Aviva Okeson-Haberman</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY (AP) — A young public radio journalist has died after being struck by a stray bullet inside her Kansas City apartment.Aviva Okeson-Haberman, 24, was struck by a bullet Friday afternoon while she was in her first-floor apartment, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-04-25/kcur-reporter-and-beloved-colleague-aviva-okeson-haberman">KCUR</a>, where she worked.Okeson-Haberman had been covering Missouri government and politics at the station where she had worked since 2019 after graduating from the University of Missouri. The native of Springfield, Missouri, had recently been planning to move to Lawrence, Kansas, for a new job covering criminal justice issues for the Kansas News Service.After news of Okeson-Haberman's death broke Sunday, many colleagues and public officials, including Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, offered memories and condolences on Twitter.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Aviva was a creative, thorough, challenging, and insightful reporter. Always prepared, she told the full and complex story of our city in one of the most challenging years in its history. Her life showed us her compassion for those who too often were voiceless.&mdash; Mayor Q (@QuintonLucasKC) <a href="https://twitter.com/QuintonLucasKC/status/1386399051944431621?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 25, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>“Aviva was a creative, thorough, challenging, and insightful reporter. Always prepared, she told the full and complex story of our city in one of the most challenging years in its history,” Lucas wrote. “Her death lays bare our gravest unsolved epidemic and the preventable tragedies too many families endure.”Her coworkers praised Okeson-Haberman.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/4/1619433369013.png" alt="photo courtesy KCUR" />
 <figcaption>photo courtesy KCUR</figcaption>
 </figure>“Aviva was brilliant,” KCUR news director Lisa Rodriguez said in the station’s story. “Even as an intern, her approach to storytelling and her ability to hold those in power accountable paralleled many a veteran reporter."Kansas City police said officers went to an apartment in the city’s Santa Fe neighborhood Friday and found an individual with a gunshot wound. At that time, police said the victim was taken to a hospital with serious, life-threatening injuries.A police spokesman said Sunday that authorities could not confirm the name of that victim because they were still on life support.

Reporter dies after being struck by stray bullet in her apartment

WASHINGTON (AP) — A group of Senate Republicans&nbsp; unveiled a public works proposal with a much smaller price tag and a narrower definition of infrastructure than what President Joe Biden&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-technology-coronavirus-pandemic-pittsburgh-jen-psaki-8865ffc8f5ad3142155a5bd3c3a3e6d3">has proposed</a>, highlighting the stark differences between the two sides that will be difficult to bridge in the coming months.

The price of the Republicans’ two-page outline came in at $568 billion over five years, compared to the $2.3 trillion that Biden has called for spending over eight years. The lawmakers framed their counter proposal as a “very, very generous offer.”

“This is the largest infrastructure investment that Republicans have come forward with,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V., told reporters. “This is a robust package.”

Yet the unveiling of the GOP proposal also made clear the parties are leagues apart on the size and scope of what’s needed. Biden is spending time listening to Republicans and voicing a willingness to consider their ideas, but Democrats are intent on passing a major infrastructure boost this year with or without GOP support. They have made clear they are willing to use the budget reconciliation process to bypass Republicans altogether,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/house-vote-coronavirus-relief-package-33f4902ca9a2aed4e76274af6bb2ea5c">just as they did on COVID relief</a>&nbsp;earlier this year.

Whether to raise taxes is perhaps the biggest dividing line. To help pay for their plan, the Republicans would instead rely on user fees, including for electric vehicles, and on redirecting unspent federal dollars. The outline does not offer specifics, such as which federal programs would lose unspent dollars to infrastructure. Biden has proposed raising the corporate income tax from 21% to 28% to help pay for his plan, a move the Republican senators rejected.

The GOP’s slimmer infrastructure plan received a positive reception from the White House, with press secretary Jen Psaki characterizing it as a legitimate starting point for negotiations. She said Biden’s aides looked forward to reviewing the details and that Biden would invite members to the White House to discuss it further after he addresses a joint session of Congress on Wednesday.

“We certainly welcome any good faith effort and see this as that,” Psaki said.

Republican lawmakers have been quick to criticize the infrastructure proposal from Biden. They say just a fraction of the spending would go to traditional infrastructure. Biden’s plan devotes $400 billion to expand Medicaid support for caregivers, and substantial portions would fund electric vehicle charging stations and address the racial injustice of highways that were built in ways that harmed Black neighborhoods.

The Republican plan would dedicate $299 billion to roads and bridges, $65 billion to broadband internet and $61 billion to transit. Another big-ticket item: $44 billion for airports. Absent from the plan are Biden priorities like electric vehicle charging stations and caregiver support, as well as billions of dollars to renovate schools and public housing.

The senators delivered their blueprint to the White House about 30 minutes prior to holding a press conference on it.

“We take the part of the president’s plan that most Americans agree is real, hard infrastructure, we give it our touch and we think we have a very good number here,” said Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., found little to like in the proposal.

“It goes nowhere near what has to be done to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and the funding is totally regressive and anti-working class,” Sanders said.

Republicans have been dismissive of aspects of Biden’s plan that focus on easing the country’s reliance on fossil fuels. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Penn., said the Republican plan “consists of actual, real infrastructure.”

But the investments Biden is proposing to curb global warming matches what many Democrats are looking for and could dampen their support if removed in negotiations.

“Any infrastructure proposal has to be green and cannot be paid for on the backs of working people,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. said.

It’s not the first time Republicans have tried to draw Biden into negotiations. Earlier this year, they offered a counterproposal to Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan. Their price tag came in at about one-third of what the president wanted, and he soon declared it inadequate. Democrats went forward on their own and passed the relief bill without the support of any GOP lawmaker.

Capito said she is optimistic that compromise can be found this time.

“I’ve been reading this very closely,” she said. “I feel like the White House and other counterparts on the House side want to try to reach a consensus.”

As debate continues regarding the size and scope of the infrastructure bill, Biden’s team is finalizing its “American Families Plan” to be outlined next week during the president’s joint address to Congress. That proposal would likely seek to extend the expanded child tax credit through 2025, universal pre-kindergarten and free community college by raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

Psaki said that the president is meeting “over the coming days to finalize details of the package” and how to pay for it.

The New York Times reported Thursday that Biden would make good on a campaign plan to nearly double the capital gains tax on people earning more than $1 million, increasing it from 20% to 39.6%. White House officials declined to confirm the precise numbers, but they emphasized that taxes would not increase for anyone making under $400,000.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/4/1617897620264.png" alt="The GOP’s slimmer infrastructure plan received a positive reception from the White House, with press secretary Jen Psaki characterizing it as a legitimate starting point for negotiations. She said Biden’s aides looked forward to reviewing the details and that Biden would invite members to the White House to discuss it further after he addresses a joint session of Congress on Wednesday-photo courtesy White House" />
 <figcaption>The GOP’s slimmer infrastructure plan received a positive reception from the White House, with press secretary Jen Psaki characterizing it as a legitimate starting point for negotiations. She said Biden’s aides looked forward to reviewing the details and that Biden would invite members to the White House to discuss it further after he addresses a joint session of Congress on Wednesday-photo courtesy White House</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — A group of Senate Republicans&nbsp; unveiled a public works proposal with a much smaller price tag and a narrower definition of infrastructure than what President Joe Biden&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-technology-coronavirus-pandemic-pittsburgh-jen-psaki-8865ffc8f5ad3142155a5bd3c3a3e6d3">has proposed</a>, highlighting the stark differences between the two sides that will be difficult to bridge in the coming months.The price of the Republicans’ two-page outline came in at $568 billion over five years, compared to the $2.3 trillion that Biden has called for spending over eight years. The lawmakers framed their counter proposal as a “very, very generous offer.”“This is the largest infrastructure investment that Republicans have come forward with,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V., told reporters. “This is a robust package.”Yet the unveiling of the GOP proposal also made clear the parties are leagues apart on the size and scope of what’s needed. Biden is spending time listening to Republicans and voicing a willingness to consider their ideas, but Democrats are intent on passing a major infrastructure boost this year with or without GOP support. They have made clear they are willing to use the budget reconciliation process to bypass Republicans altogether,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/house-vote-coronavirus-relief-package-33f4902ca9a2aed4e76274af6bb2ea5c">just as they did on COVID relief</a>&nbsp;earlier this year.Whether to raise taxes is perhaps the biggest dividing line. To help pay for their plan, the Republicans would instead rely on user fees, including for electric vehicles, and on redirecting unspent federal dollars. The outline does not offer specifics, such as which federal programs would lose unspent dollars to infrastructure. Biden has proposed raising the corporate income tax from 21% to 28% to help pay for his plan, a move the Republican senators rejected.The GOP’s slimmer infrastructure plan received a positive reception from the White House, with press secretary Jen Psaki characterizing it as a legitimate starting point for negotiations. She said Biden’s aides looked forward to reviewing the details and that Biden would invite members to the White House to discuss it further after he addresses a joint session of Congress on Wednesday.“We certainly welcome any good faith effort and see this as that,” Psaki said.Republican lawmakers have been quick to criticize the infrastructure proposal from Biden. They say just a fraction of the spending would go to traditional infrastructure. Biden’s plan devotes $400 billion to expand Medicaid support for caregivers, and substantial portions would fund electric vehicle charging stations and address the racial injustice of highways that were built in ways that harmed Black neighborhoods.The Republican plan would dedicate $299 billion to roads and bridges, $65 billion to broadband internet and $61 billion to transit. Another big-ticket item: $44 billion for airports. Absent from the plan are Biden priorities like electric vehicle charging stations and caregiver support, as well as billions of dollars to renovate schools and public housing.The senators delivered their blueprint to the White House about 30 minutes prior to holding a press conference on it.“We take the part of the president’s plan that most Americans agree is real, hard infrastructure, we give it our touch and we think we have a very good number here,” said Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss.Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., found little to like in the proposal.“It goes nowhere near what has to be done to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and the funding is totally regressive and anti-working class,” Sanders said.Republicans have been dismissive of aspects of Biden’s plan that focus on easing the country’s reliance on fossil fuels. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Penn., said the Republican plan “consists of actual, real infrastructure.”But the investments Biden is proposing to curb global warming matches what many Democrats are looking for and could dampen their support if removed in negotiations.“Any infrastructure proposal has to be green and cannot be paid for on the backs of working people,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. said.It’s not the first time Republicans have tried to draw Biden into negotiations. Earlier this year, they offered a counterproposal to Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan. Their price tag came in at about one-third of what the president wanted, and he soon declared it inadequate. Democrats went forward on their own and passed the relief bill without the support of any GOP lawmaker.Capito said she is optimistic that compromise can be found this time.“I’ve been reading this very closely,” she said. “I feel like the White House and other counterparts on the House side want to try to reach a consensus.”As debate continues regarding the size and scope of the infrastructure bill, Biden’s team is finalizing its “American Families Plan” to be outlined next week during the president’s joint address to Congress. That proposal would likely seek to extend the expanded child tax credit through 2025, universal pre-kindergarten and free community college by raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans.Psaki said that the president is meeting “over the coming days to finalize details of the package” and how to pay for it.The New York Times reported Thursday that Biden would make good on a campaign plan to nearly double the capital gains tax on people earning more than $1 million, increasing it from 20% to 39.6%. White House officials declined to confirm the precise numbers, but they emphasized that taxes would not increase for anyone making under $400,000._____

Infrastructure plans: GOP $568B or Biden $2.3T

KANSAS CITY (AP) — A woman has been sentenced to 28 years in prison for fatally shooting a 15-year-old girl outside a Kansas City high school as the teen left a basketball game.

Twenty-four-year-old Jamya Norfleet was sentenced Friday for second-degree murder and unlawful use of a weapon in the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/8b78aaaaca05411fbbf0ba2563e50033">February 2019</a>&nbsp;death of An’Janique Wright.

The shooting happened outside the Central Academy of Excellence after two groups of people got into an argument at the game and were escorted out separately. Wright was not enrolled at the school but was there for the game. As she left the school with the second group, gunfire erupted.

Surveillance footage showed a minivan speeding away. Charging documents say Norfleet told investigators, “I let the fire go.”

The getaway van's driver, Taylor McMillon, pleaded guilty in February to voluntary manslaughter and is scheduled to be sentenced in June.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/4/1619291177559.png" alt="Jamya Norfleet photo Jackson County" />
 <figcaption>Jamya Norfleet photo Jackson County</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY (AP) — A woman has been sentenced to 28 years in prison for fatally shooting a 15-year-old girl outside a Kansas City high school as the teen left a basketball game.Twenty-four-year-old Jamya Norfleet was sentenced Friday for second-degree murder and unlawful use of a weapon in the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/8b78aaaaca05411fbbf0ba2563e50033">February 2019</a>&nbsp;death of An’Janique Wright.The shooting happened outside the Central Academy of Excellence after two groups of people got into an argument at the game and were escorted out separately. Wright was not enrolled at the school but was there for the game. As she left the school with the second group, gunfire erupted.Surveillance footage showed a minivan speeding away. Charging documents say Norfleet told investigators, “I let the fire go.”The getaway van's driver, Taylor McMillon, pleaded guilty in February to voluntary manslaughter and is scheduled to be sentenced in June.

Woman sentenced for fatal shooting at KC high school

SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on multiple charges after a traffic stop.

Just before 2a.m. Thursday,&nbsp;a sheriff's deputy conducted a traffic stop on a black 2019 Volkswagen Jetta in the 1500 block of SW Auburn Road for speeding, according to Deputy Abigail Christian.

 During the investigation, the deputy located illegal narcotics and drug paraphernalia. The Drug Enforcement Unit assisted and seized approximately 14 grams of methamphetamine and multiple oxycodone pills.&nbsp;

Deputies arrested Troy C. Russell, 39, of Topeka on a City of Topeka warrant and booked him into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on requested charges of unlawful possession of controlled substances, unlawful distribution of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and speeding.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/4/1619128596108.png" alt="Russell photo Shawnee Co." />
 <figcaption>Russell photo Shawnee Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on multiple charges after a traffic stop.Just before 2a.m. Thursday,&nbsp;a sheriff's deputy conducted a traffic stop on a black 2019 Volkswagen Jetta in the 1500 block of SW Auburn Road for speeding, according to Deputy Abigail Christian. During the investigation, the deputy located illegal narcotics and drug paraphernalia. The Drug Enforcement Unit assisted and seized approximately 14 grams of methamphetamine and multiple oxycodone pills.&nbsp;Deputies arrested Troy C. Russell, 39, of Topeka on a City of Topeka warrant and booked him into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on requested charges of unlawful possession of controlled substances, unlawful distribution of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and speeding.

Sheriff: Kan. man stopped for speeding, jailed on drug charges

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A Black Kansas City firefighter was subjected to racial discrimination then fired in retaliation for his complaints, a federal jury found Thursday in a trial that highlighted systemic racism in the department.

The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, was ordered to pay Jyan Harris more than $2.43 million for back pay, future pay and compensatory damages for his discrimination and retaliation claims, the Kansas City Star&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article250838949.html" target="_blank">reported</a>.

“Hopefully now it shows them that you can’t do people like that,” Harris said after the verdict. “You have to do your due diligence before you take somebody’s livelihood away, especially somebody who’s giving you their livelihood.”

Several witnesses testified at trial about racial discrimination in the fire department, saying Black firefighters are frequently moved into one fire station, are often passed over for promotions and are not actively recruited to serve in the racially diverse city.

Former Mayor Mark Holland testified that a former fire chief once remarked to him about how it was difficult to hire Black firefighters because, he believed, African Americans are afraid of fire. One document showed a Black firefighter was disciplined for making a complaint outside of the chain of command about the presence of a noose in a fire station.

“While we support an inclusive fire department, this case has highlighted concerns among some of our personnel that we have more work to do,” Unified Government Administrator Doug Bach said in a written statement. “Our firefighters are on the front lines of our public safety and, in 2021, no one should feel unwelcome or wronged while on the job.”

The Unified Government fired Harris after accusing him of double dipping when he submitted time sheets for seasonal work he did at summer youth camps for its parks and recreation department while he was scheduled to work for the fire department.

But Harris’ lawyers — Katherine Myers and Sarah Liesen — convinced the jury that the double-dipping investigation was a pretext for firing him after he raised complaints about racial discrimination.

Harris contended that, like most firefighters, he had traded shifts, which explained records showing him simultaneously being in two places in 2015.

“Discrimination and retaliation are insidious. Usually it’s not a, quote unquote, smoking gun,” Myers said. “Usually it’s a combination of circumstances and things.”

Ryan Denk, the attorney representing the Unified Government, urged jurors in his closing remarks to consider whether those stories of racial issues supported Harris’ claims of race discrimination.

“The verdict speaks for itself,” juror Mike Telthorst said as he prepared to leave the courthouse.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A Black Kansas City firefighter was subjected to racial discrimination then fired in retaliation for his complaints, a federal jury found Thursday in a trial that highlighted systemic racism in the department.The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, was ordered to pay Jyan Harris more than $2.43 million for back pay, future pay and compensatory damages for his discrimination and retaliation claims, the Kansas City Star&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article250838949.html" target="_blank">reported</a>.“Hopefully now it shows them that you can’t do people like that,” Harris said after the verdict. “You have to do your due diligence before you take somebody’s livelihood away, especially somebody who’s giving you their livelihood.”Several witnesses testified at trial about racial discrimination in the fire department, saying Black firefighters are frequently moved into one fire station, are often passed over for promotions and are not actively recruited to serve in the racially diverse city.Former Mayor Mark Holland testified that a former fire chief once remarked to him about how it was difficult to hire Black firefighters because, he believed, African Americans are afraid of fire. One document showed a Black firefighter was disciplined for making a complaint outside of the chain of command about the presence of a noose in a fire station.“While we support an inclusive fire department, this case has highlighted concerns among some of our personnel that we have more work to do,” Unified Government Administrator Doug Bach said in a written statement. “Our firefighters are on the front lines of our public safety and, in 2021, no one should feel unwelcome or wronged while on the job.”The Unified Government fired Harris after accusing him of double dipping when he submitted time sheets for seasonal work he did at summer youth camps for its parks and recreation department while he was scheduled to work for the fire department.But Harris’ lawyers — Katherine Myers and Sarah Liesen — convinced the jury that the double-dipping investigation was a pretext for firing him after he raised complaints about racial discrimination.Harris contended that, like most firefighters, he had traded shifts, which explained records showing him simultaneously being in two places in 2015.“Discrimination and retaliation are insidious. Usually it’s not a, quote unquote, smoking gun,” Myers said. “Usually it’s a combination of circumstances and things.”Ryan Denk, the attorney representing the Unified Government, urged jurors in his closing remarks to consider whether those stories of racial issues supported Harris’ claims of race discrimination.“The verdict speaks for itself,” juror Mike Telthorst said as he prepared to leave the courthouse.

Black ex-Kan. firefighter awarded $2.43M in discrimination case

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A sex therapist in Utah who has publicly challenged her faith’s policies on sexuality has been kicked out of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints following a disciplinary hearing.

Natasha Helfer received a letter Wednesday from a regional church official explaining the reasons for her removal from the Salt Lake City-based church, The Salt Lake Tribune&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2021/04/21/lds-sex-therapist-natasha/" target="_blank">reported</a>. Helfer was disciplined by church leaders in Kansas, where she lived before moving to Utah in 2019.

“After carefully and prayerfully considering this matter,” the letter states, “it was the decision of the council to withdraw your church membership in response to conduct contrary to the law and order of the church.”

Helfer shared the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/natashahelfermft/">letter on Facebook.</a> Church spokesman Eric Hawkins said that, based on the letter, regional church leaders’ decision was not related to her private practice as a therapist.

“As the letter shared by Ms. Helfer indicates, the decision of the local leaders was based on her public, repeated opposition to the church, church leaders and the doctrine of the church, including our doctrine on the nature of the family and on moral issues,” Hawkins said in a statement.

Helfer has been outspoken on sexual issues and supports same-sex marriage, counsels that masturbation is not a sin and says pornography should not be treated as an addiction. She had said that she hoped to remain in the church.

Helfer told the Tribune that she was asked to leave her disciplinary hearing before it began on Sunday because she refused to turn off her phone, which contained her notes.

“It is common for participants to be asked to turn off technology (including cell phones) or leave it outside the room, as was the case with this council,” Hawksins said. “All but one of the participants complied with that request and had brought their statements in writing.”

Church members are taught not to have sex before marriage, engage in passionate kissing, touch another person’s private parts or arouse “emotions in your own body” that are supposed to be reserved for marriage. Homosexual relations also are forbidden even if a person is married or in a relationship.

Helfer did not immediately respond to The Associated Press’ request for comment.

Her ouster means she’ll be leaving a religion she’s been a member of since she was 5 years old.

While not a lifelong ban, the withdrawal of a person’s membership by church leaders amounts to the harshest punishment available for a member of the faith. These ousters used to be called excommunication before the faith changed the terminology last year to “withdrawal of church membership.”

People in this category can’t go inside temples where members are married and other ordinances such as baptisms for dead relatives are performed.

Sam Young, a man who led a campaign criticizing the church’s practice of allowing one-on-one interviews of youth by lay leaders that sometimes included sexual questions, was kicked out of the church in 2018. Kate Kelly, founder of a group pushing for women to be allowed in the religion’s lay clergy, was excommunicated in 2014.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/4/1619353927098.png" alt="Natasha Helfer photo Facebook" />
 <figcaption>Natasha Helfer photo Facebook</figcaption>
 </figure>SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A sex therapist in Utah who has publicly challenged her faith’s policies on sexuality has been kicked out of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints following a disciplinary hearing.Natasha Helfer received a letter Wednesday from a regional church official explaining the reasons for her removal from the Salt Lake City-based church, The Salt Lake Tribune&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2021/04/21/lds-sex-therapist-natasha/" target="_blank">reported</a>. Helfer was disciplined by church leaders in Kansas, where she lived before moving to Utah in 2019.“After carefully and prayerfully considering this matter,” the letter states, “it was the decision of the council to withdraw your church membership in response to conduct contrary to the law and order of the church.”Helfer shared the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/natashahelfermft/">letter on Facebook.</a> Church spokesman Eric Hawkins said that, based on the letter, regional church leaders’ decision was not related to her private practice as a therapist.“As the letter shared by Ms. Helfer indicates, the decision of the local leaders was based on her public, repeated opposition to the church, church leaders and the doctrine of the church, including our doctrine on the nature of the family and on moral issues,” Hawkins said in a statement.Helfer has been outspoken on sexual issues and supports same-sex marriage, counsels that masturbation is not a sin and says pornography should not be treated as an addiction. She had said that she hoped to remain in the church.Helfer told the Tribune that she was asked to leave her disciplinary hearing before it began on Sunday because she refused to turn off her phone, which contained her notes.“It is common for participants to be asked to turn off technology (including cell phones) or leave it outside the room, as was the case with this council,” Hawksins said. “All but one of the participants complied with that request and had brought their statements in writing.”Church members are taught not to have sex before marriage, engage in passionate kissing, touch another person’s private parts or arouse “emotions in your own body” that are supposed to be reserved for marriage. Homosexual relations also are forbidden even if a person is married or in a relationship.Helfer did not immediately respond to The Associated Press’ request for comment.Her ouster means she’ll be leaving a religion she’s been a member of since she was 5 years old.While not a lifelong ban, the withdrawal of a person’s membership by church leaders amounts to the harshest punishment available for a member of the faith. These ousters used to be called excommunication before the faith changed the terminology last year to “withdrawal of church membership.”People in this category can’t go inside temples where members are married and other ordinances such as baptisms for dead relatives are performed.Sam Young, a man who led a campaign criticizing the church’s practice of allowing one-on-one interviews of youth by lay leaders that sometimes included sexual questions, was kicked out of the church in 2018. Kate Kelly, founder of a group pushing for women to be allowed in the religion’s lay clergy, was excommunicated in 2014.

Mormon sex therapist from Kansas ousted from faith 

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/4/1619363984890.png" alt="Police on the scene of the investigation Saturday photo courtesy WIBW TV" />
 <figcaption>Police on the scene of the investigation Saturday photo courtesy WIBW TV</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are a suspicious death.Just after&nbsp; 7p.m. Saturday, police responded to a home in the 2800 block of SW James in Topeka after a 911 call requesting medical personnel, according to police Lt. Kelvin Johnson.At the scene first responders located a woman who was deceased.Officers and Detectives were working to determine the circumstances surrounding this incident.&nbsp; Police did not release the victim's name.

Police investigate death of woman at Kansas home

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed two Republican-backed election bills on Friday, including one that would have limited most individuals to delivering 10 ballots during each election and another that would have barred the governor, secretary of state or the courts from changing election rules.

When Republicans pushed the bills through the Legislature earlier this month, they had the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto in the Senate but was four votes short in the House on the ballot-collection bill. The election rules bill also reached large enough margins for override attempts to succeed in the Senate, but was one vote shy in the House.

The ballot-collection legislation would have made it harder for groups or people not related to voters to deliver their absentee ballots to election officials. It would have also required candidates to deliver ballots only from immediate family members, reining in practices that some Democrats and groups have used for years to help poor, elderly and disabled voters.

“Although Kansans have cast millions of ballots over the last decade, there remains no evidence of significant voter fraud in Kansas,” the Democratic governor said in a statement. “This bill is a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. It is designed to disenfranchise Kansans, making it difficult for them to participate in the democratic process, not to stop voter fraud.”

Republican lawmakers said they’re protecting the integrity of the state’s elections by making it less likely that ballots will go missing or get altered.

The&nbsp;<a href="http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2021_22/measures/documents/summary_hb_2183_2021" target="_blank">ballot-collection&nbsp;</a>bill would have also&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/legislature-kansas-voting-rights-elections-coronavirus-pandemic-86f785d899956466948b4601954ce83c">helped Republicans</a>&nbsp;with a key policy goal: saving state abortion restrictions endangered by a Kansas Supreme Court decision in 2019 protecting abortion rights. GOP lawmakers were joined in efforts to revise election laws by abortion opponents who fear that abortion-rights canvassers could collect thousands of ballots to defeat a proposed anti-abortion amendment to the state constitution on the August 2022 ballot.

Georgia has been ground zero in a national fight over election laws, but it also has come to states that ex-President Donald Trump won, including Florida, Iowa, Kansas and Montana.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/legislature-voting-iowa-elections-campaigns-881cb8de23a9d9fd886c738a21aafa83">Iowa last month enacted</a>&nbsp;a GOP-backed law that makes it harder to vote early, potentially disadvantaging Democrats.

The issue also is before the U.S. Supreme Court, which is considering the constitutionality of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/arizona-voting-rights-elections-us-supreme-court-courts-ae65d2e2a9b6498ab010441653aec18c">an Arizona law</a>&nbsp;enacted by Republicans there in 2016 limiting who can return ballots.

More than half of states, including Kansas, allow a third party, non-relative to collect ballots and deliver them to election offices, though a dozen of those put limits on how many, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Kansans for Life, the state’s most influential anti-abortion group, and the conservative Family Policy Alliance of Kansas, also backed the bill.

Republicans argue that the more ballots someone can deliver, the greater the chance that some will get lost — or deliberately altered or misplaced. While they’ve pointed to examples of Democratic candidates in Kansas collecting ballots, they’ve yet to present evidence that it led to fraudulent votes.

But some cite a North Carolina scandal that overturned a 2018 congressional election, in which a GOP operative was accused of having workers collect incomplete or blank absentee ballots. A few even point to a controversy in Democratic-led California, where Republicans faced allegations of setting up illegal ballot drop boxes.

Rep. Blake Carpenter, a Republican from Derby and a main proponent of both bills, said he thinks it won’t be difficult to override Kelly’s veto on the election rules bill since it was only one vote short of the required supermajority in the House. Three Republican House members were also absent for the final vote on the bill, he said.

Carpenter said he also looks forward to working with Republican legislators to override Kelly’s veto of the ballot-collection bill.

“The governor said that this is a problem in search of a solution, or that we don’t really need this legislation,” Carpenter said. “However, I think that this legislation directly impacts what future elections could look like because of the issues we saw in those other elections and other states.”

Democrats counter with cases of voters who don’t have reliable transportation or who wait to vote until the mail might not deliver an absentee ballot on time.

The other bill Kelly vetoed would have prevented the governor from changing election laws or procedures by issuing executive orders. That bill would have also barred the secretary of state from entering into consent decrees with state and federal courts to enforce or change election rules without approval from Kansas legislators.

Some Republicans who supported the election rules measure criticized governors in other states who delayed presidential primaries due to COVID-19. Last year, Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab was questioned about whether he would call for an all-mail ballot election, an idea Schwab opposed.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/4/1619210947266.png" alt="“Although Kansans have cast millions of ballots over the last decade, there remains no evidence of significant voter fraud in Kansas,” Governor Kelly said in a statement.&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>“Although Kansans have cast millions of ballots over the last decade, there remains no evidence of significant voter fraud in Kansas,” Governor Kelly said in a statement.&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure>TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed two Republican-backed election bills on Friday, including one that would have limited most individuals to delivering 10 ballots during each election and another that would have barred the governor, secretary of state or the courts from changing election rules.When Republicans pushed the bills through the Legislature earlier this month, they had the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto in the Senate but was four votes short in the House on the ballot-collection bill. The election rules bill also reached large enough margins for override attempts to succeed in the Senate, but was one vote shy in the House.The ballot-collection legislation would have made it harder for groups or people not related to voters to deliver their absentee ballots to election officials. It would have also required candidates to deliver ballots only from immediate family members, reining in practices that some Democrats and groups have used for years to help poor, elderly and disabled voters.“Although Kansans have cast millions of ballots over the last decade, there remains no evidence of significant voter fraud in Kansas,” the Democratic governor said in a statement. “This bill is a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. It is designed to disenfranchise Kansans, making it difficult for them to participate in the democratic process, not to stop voter fraud.”Republican lawmakers said they’re protecting the integrity of the state’s elections by making it less likely that ballots will go missing or get altered.The&nbsp;<a href="http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2021_22/measures/documents/summary_hb_2183_2021" target="_blank">ballot-collection&nbsp;</a>bill would have also&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/legislature-kansas-voting-rights-elections-coronavirus-pandemic-86f785d899956466948b4601954ce83c">helped Republicans</a>&nbsp;with a key policy goal: saving state abortion restrictions endangered by a Kansas Supreme Court decision in 2019 protecting abortion rights. GOP lawmakers were joined in efforts to revise election laws by abortion opponents who fear that abortion-rights canvassers could collect thousands of ballots to defeat a proposed anti-abortion amendment to the state constitution on the August 2022 ballot.Georgia has been ground zero in a national fight over election laws, but it also has come to states that ex-President Donald Trump won, including Florida, Iowa, Kansas and Montana.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/legislature-voting-iowa-elections-campaigns-881cb8de23a9d9fd886c738a21aafa83">Iowa last month enacted</a>&nbsp;a GOP-backed law that makes it harder to vote early, potentially disadvantaging Democrats.The issue also is before the U.S. Supreme Court, which is considering the constitutionality of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/arizona-voting-rights-elections-us-supreme-court-courts-ae65d2e2a9b6498ab010441653aec18c">an Arizona law</a>&nbsp;enacted by Republicans there in 2016 limiting who can return ballots.More than half of states, including Kansas, allow a third party, non-relative to collect ballots and deliver them to election offices, though a dozen of those put limits on how many, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.Kansans for Life, the state’s most influential anti-abortion group, and the conservative Family Policy Alliance of Kansas, also backed the bill.Republicans argue that the more ballots someone can deliver, the greater the chance that some will get lost — or deliberately altered or misplaced. While they’ve pointed to examples of Democratic candidates in Kansas collecting ballots, they’ve yet to present evidence that it led to fraudulent votes.But some cite a North Carolina scandal that overturned a 2018 congressional election, in which a GOP operative was accused of having workers collect incomplete or blank absentee ballots. A few even point to a controversy in Democratic-led California, where Republicans faced allegations of setting up illegal ballot drop boxes.Rep. Blake Carpenter, a Republican from Derby and a main proponent of both bills, said he thinks it won’t be difficult to override Kelly’s veto on the election rules bill since it was only one vote short of the required supermajority in the House. Three Republican House members were also absent for the final vote on the bill, he said.Carpenter said he also looks forward to working with Republican legislators to override Kelly’s veto of the ballot-collection bill.“The governor said that this is a problem in search of a solution, or that we don’t really need this legislation,” Carpenter said. “However, I think that this legislation directly impacts what future elections could look like because of the issues we saw in those other elections and other states.”Democrats counter with cases of voters who don’t have reliable transportation or who wait to vote until the mail might not deliver an absentee ballot on time.The other bill Kelly vetoed would have prevented the governor from changing election laws or procedures by issuing executive orders. That bill would have also barred the secretary of state from entering into consent decrees with state and federal courts to enforce or change election rules without approval from Kansas legislators.Some Republicans who supported the election rules measure criticized governors in other states who delayed presidential primaries due to COVID-19. Last year, Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab was questioned about whether he would call for an all-mail ballot election, an idea Schwab opposed.

Gov. vetoes measures that would tighten Kan. election laws

Washington (AP) —The Biden administration has taken the first step toward ending an emergency exception that allowed hospitals to ration and reuse N95 medical masks, the first line of defense between frontline workers and the deadly coronavirus.

Thousands of medical providers have died in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic">the COVID-19 pandemic</a>, many exposed and infected while caring for patients without adequate protection.

Critical shortages of masks, gowns, swabs, and other medical supplies prompted the Trump administration to issue guidelines for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hospitals-ration-n95-masks-coronavirus-b40b902991b75d8ae4000a20bccd6af4">providers to ration</a>, clean, and reuse disposable equipment. Thus, throughout the pandemic, once a week many doctors and nurses were issued an N95 mask, which is normally designed to be tossed after each patient.

Now U.S. manufacturers say they have vast surpluses for sale, and hospitals say they have three to 12 month stockpiles.

In response, the government says hospitals and healthcare providers should try to return to one mask per patient.

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is recommending health care personnel and facilities transition away from crisis capacity conservation strategies,” said the agency in a letter to healthcare personnel and facilities earlier this month.

The letter is not an order: hospitals are still legally permitted to sterilize and reuse N95s. But in the coming weeks or months, the FDA will issue updated guidance and, eventually, require hospitals to revert to single-use, said Suzanne Schwartz, director of the FDA’s office of strategic partnerships and technology innovation.

“The ability to decontaminate was purely a last resort, an extreme measure,” Schwartz said. “From the FDA’s perspective, there is a need for us to move back towards contingency and conventional strategies, which is, you use the respirator for the interaction, and then you dispose of it and get a new one. We are in unison, in sync, with both NIOSH and OSHA in that position.”

The National Nurses Union, the largest professional association of registered nurses in the country, calls the new guidance “a tiny step in the right direction.” But the organization, representing 170,000 nurses, said the direction “ultimately fails” to protect nurses because it allows employers to use their discretion about what normal N95 supply is.

“But we know the reality— there is ample N95 supply,” said the union in a statement urging the administration to update their standards and enforce them.

ICU nurse Mike Hill, who works at a Northern California Sutter Hospital and is a member of the California Nurses Association, said he and his colleagues still don’t have unlimited access to N95 masks.

“I think it’s ridiculous for Sutter to want to do extended use when the masks are inexpensive, like a dollar apiece. They should want to make sure to protect the nurses, we’re the frontline workers,” he said. “It puts the patients and us at risk for infection. They were never intended for extended use.”

Hill’s colleague, Sutter nurse Janine Paiste-Ponder, 59, was among hundreds of medical caregivers who died after exposure to COVID-19 at the workplace in the past year. Following her July 2020 death, a California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health investigation at Sutter Health’s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center led to nearly $300,000 in fines for numerous COVID-related workplace safety violations.

Prestige Ameritech Executive Vice President Mike Bowen, whose Fort Worth, Texas, factory is the largest U.S.-manufacturer of surgical masks, said the devices were designed to be used only once, not reused from one patient to the next.

He said he has millions of unsold masks, as do other U.S. manufacturers which invested and ramped up during the pandemic.

“While nurses pleaded for clean masks, American N95 makers were filling their warehouses with N95s that hospitals weren’t buying. Starting today, America’s healthcare workers can and should demand clean, new N95 masks,” he said. “The N95 mask shortage is over,” he said.

Congresswoman Anna Eshoo said the deadly shortages were “a national embarrassment and should never happen again.”

“This is welcome news and demonstrates our progress toward crushing COVID-19,” said the California Democrat. “We must make sure this type of shortage never happens again by reinvesting in a sustainable supply of high-quality, American-made PPE.”

Washington (AP) —The Biden administration has taken the first step toward ending an emergency exception that allowed hospitals to ration and reuse N95 medical masks, the first line of defense between frontline workers and the deadly coronavirus.Thousands of medical providers have died in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic">the COVID-19 pandemic</a>, many exposed and infected while caring for patients without adequate protection.Critical shortages of masks, gowns, swabs, and other medical supplies prompted the Trump administration to issue guidelines for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hospitals-ration-n95-masks-coronavirus-b40b902991b75d8ae4000a20bccd6af4">providers to ration</a>, clean, and reuse disposable equipment. Thus, throughout the pandemic, once a week many doctors and nurses were issued an N95 mask, which is normally designed to be tossed after each patient.Now U.S. manufacturers say they have vast surpluses for sale, and hospitals say they have three to 12 month stockpiles.In response, the government says hospitals and healthcare providers should try to return to one mask per patient.“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is recommending health care personnel and facilities transition away from crisis capacity conservation strategies,” said the agency in a letter to healthcare personnel and facilities earlier this month.The letter is not an order: hospitals are still legally permitted to sterilize and reuse N95s. But in the coming weeks or months, the FDA will issue updated guidance and, eventually, require hospitals to revert to single-use, said Suzanne Schwartz, director of the FDA’s office of strategic partnerships and technology innovation.“The ability to decontaminate was purely a last resort, an extreme measure,” Schwartz said. “From the FDA’s perspective, there is a need for us to move back towards contingency and conventional strategies, which is, you use the respirator for the interaction, and then you dispose of it and get a new one. We are in unison, in sync, with both NIOSH and OSHA in that position.”The National Nurses Union, the largest professional association of registered nurses in the country, calls the new guidance “a tiny step in the right direction.” But the organization, representing 170,000 nurses, said the direction “ultimately fails” to protect nurses because it allows employers to use their discretion about what normal N95 supply is.“But we know the reality— there is ample N95 supply,” said the union in a statement urging the administration to update their standards and enforce them.ICU nurse Mike Hill, who works at a Northern California Sutter Hospital and is a member of the California Nurses Association, said he and his colleagues still don’t have unlimited access to N95 masks.“I think it’s ridiculous for Sutter to want to do extended use when the masks are inexpensive, like a dollar apiece. They should want to make sure to protect the nurses, we’re the frontline workers,” he said. “It puts the patients and us at risk for infection. They were never intended for extended use.”Hill’s colleague, Sutter nurse Janine Paiste-Ponder, 59, was among hundreds of medical caregivers who died after exposure to COVID-19 at the workplace in the past year. Following her July 2020 death, a California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health investigation at Sutter Health’s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center led to nearly $300,000 in fines for numerous COVID-related workplace safety violations.Prestige Ameritech Executive Vice President Mike Bowen, whose Fort Worth, Texas, factory is the largest U.S.-manufacturer of surgical masks, said the devices were designed to be used only once, not reused from one patient to the next.He said he has millions of unsold masks, as do other U.S. manufacturers which invested and ramped up during the pandemic.“While nurses pleaded for clean masks, American N95 makers were filling their warehouses with N95s that hospitals weren’t buying. Starting today, America’s healthcare workers can and should demand clean, new N95 masks,” he said. “The N95 mask shortage is over,” he said.Congresswoman Anna Eshoo said the deadly shortages were “a national embarrassment and should never happen again.”“This is welcome news and demonstrates our progress toward crushing COVID-19,” said the California Democrat. “We must make sure this type of shortage never happens again by reinvesting in a sustainable supply of high-quality, American-made PPE.”——

FDA: N95 masks, now plentiful, should no longer be reused

MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) — Police were justified in fatally shooting a man during a chase and gun battle in east central Indiana, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

Jonathan Levi Allen, 28, a former Muncie resident who was living in Wichita, Kansas, died March 10 , one week after the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/shootings-police-kansas-wichita-crime-6fc9cd6ceea69d48ff9d1e5b55dc9353">March 3 shooting</a>, Indiana State Police said. Allen was shot in the head by a Muncie officer and crashed his SUV into a parked vehicle, police said.

The officer who shot Allen and a second officer who also fired upon the suspect “unquestionably and without a doubt did so in self-defense and in the defense of others,” Delaware County Prosecutor Eric Hoffman said in a report.

When confronted by officers, Allen “chose to open fire at the police officers and civilians,” Hoffman said.

Muncie officers responding to a report of a suspect in an SUV firing gunshots tried to pull the vehicle over but Allen didn’t stop and a short pursuit ensued before police ended it because school buses were nearby, authorities said. The chase resumed when authorities learned Allen was holding a female passenger against her will in his vehicle, state police said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/4/1617377519398.png" alt="Allen had two previous drug convictions in Kansas, according to the Dept. of Corrections" />
 <figcaption>Allen had two previous drug convictions in Kansas, according to the Dept. of Corrections</figcaption>
 </figure>MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) — Police were justified in fatally shooting a man during a chase and gun battle in east central Indiana, a prosecutor said Wednesday.Jonathan Levi Allen, 28, a former Muncie resident who was living in Wichita, Kansas, died March 10 , one week after the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/shootings-police-kansas-wichita-crime-6fc9cd6ceea69d48ff9d1e5b55dc9353">March 3 shooting</a>, Indiana State Police said. Allen was shot in the head by a Muncie officer and crashed his SUV into a parked vehicle, police said.The officer who shot Allen and a second officer who also fired upon the suspect “unquestionably and without a doubt did so in self-defense and in the defense of others,” Delaware County Prosecutor Eric Hoffman said in a report.When confronted by officers, Allen “chose to open fire at the police officers and civilians,” Hoffman said.Muncie officers responding to a report of a suspect in an SUV firing gunshots tried to pull the vehicle over but Allen didn’t stop and a short pursuit ensued before police ended it because school buses were nearby, authorities said. The chase resumed when authorities learned Allen was holding a female passenger against her will in his vehicle, state police said.

Prosecutor: Police justified in fatal shooting of Kan. man during chase

KANSAS CITY (AP) — A Kansas City-area man who sat behind bars for 17 months awaiting trial on a second-degree murder charge has been acquitted by a jury.

A jury took less than an hour earlier this month to find Terrance Wright, 25, Grandview, not guilty of the charge in the death of 49-year-old Benson Lewis on Nov. 23, 2019.

Police had said the fatal shooting occurred outside Lewis’ home during a custody dispute involving Wright’s child. Lewis was the child’s maternal grandfather. Wright maintained that he shot Lewis in self-defense.

Wright was arrested at the scene and held until his trial, because he was unable to raise the $250,000 cash bond set. In that time, Wright lost his job and said he has been left with no means to pay hundreds of dollars to get his car released from police impound.

“For now, I’m trying to play catch up and get at least to where I was,” Wright said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/11/1574647790424.png" alt="Terrance Wright photo Jackson Co." />
 <figcaption>Terrance Wright photo Jackson Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY (AP) — A Kansas City-area man who sat behind bars for 17 months awaiting trial on a second-degree murder charge has been acquitted by a jury.A jury took less than an hour earlier this month to find Terrance Wright, 25, Grandview, not guilty of the charge in the death of 49-year-old Benson Lewis on Nov. 23, 2019.Police had said the fatal shooting occurred outside Lewis’ home during a custody dispute involving Wright’s child. Lewis was the child’s maternal grandfather. Wright maintained that he shot Lewis in self-defense.Wright was arrested at the scene and held until his trial, because he was unable to raise the $250,000 cash bond set. In that time, Wright lost his job and said he has been left with no means to pay hundreds of dollars to get his car released from police impound.“For now, I’m trying to play catch up and get at least to where I was,” Wright said.

KC-area man acquitted of murder in 2019 killing

SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal shooting.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/4/1619305057074.png" alt="Police take near the fatal shooting investigation on Saturday photo courtesy KWCH" />
 <figcaption>Police take near the fatal shooting investigation on Saturday photo courtesy KWCH</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal shooting.Just before 5:30a.m. Saturday, sheriff's deputies were sent to a check shots call at the Englewood mobile home park located at 3201 E MacArthur in Wichita, according to Sheriff's Lt. Benjamin Blick. While responding, deputies received information that a man and woman were inside the residence with apparent gunshot wounds. When deputies arrived, they had to force entry to the home. Inside the home, they located a 42-year-old man and 41-year-old woman deceased, according to Blick.Detectives are collecting evidence and conducting interviews to determine the circumstances surrounding the shooting. Authorities have not released names of the victims.